Out ta Get Me
For All Nails #157: Out ta Get Me by Walter R. Strapps (with thanks to Noel Maurer) ---- :Excerpt from Chapter 19 of :Total War - The History and Battles of the Global War, 1939-1948 (New York, November 1974) :Chapter 19: Guerrilla Warfare during the Global War ...That said, the role of guerrillas during the Global War has been consistently overstated. In part, this is because a small group of rag-tag warriors fighting off a mighty army makes for great vitavision (take for example the recent Alvarez-winning film Red Dawn), and in part because so-called guerrilla forces played a key role in ending the Global War. Why "so-called" guerrilla forces? Simply put, because many of the most effective "guerrilla" forces, especially in India, were in fact well-trained, well-armed and in at least some cases, well-supplied professional armies. The reason behind the phenominally rapid advance of the German offensive across South and Southeast Asia was that the Germans rarely bothered to stop and defeat enemy armies! The Germans reached Delhi in record time, but they left astraddle their supply lines two intact United Empire armies. The logistical aspect of the German advance across India is addressed in Chapter 15. This chapter concentrates on the style of war waged by the "guerrillas" left behind the crest of the German advance. ... The so-called Garden Offensive of 1943, led by the United Empire 2nd Army, was an utter and complete shock to the German 16th Terramobile Army under General Oscar Meyer. The 16th Terramobile had come under what the German general staff assumed were semi-organised attacks from partisan guerrillas in western India. In response, General Meyer planned a counter-insurgency campaign to crush the small bands they imagined were scattered through the western part of the sub-continent. Instead of scattered partisans, however, the German Army found it-self face-to-face with an entire United Empire army supported by full artillery and running terramobiles. The resulting defeat shattered the morale of the Germans in India. It required great patience for the 2nd Army to wait 18 months before launching a counteroffensive. Virtually all of the praise for this patience is due to General Bernard J. Montgomery. FN1 While the Germans in western India rapidly depleted their supplies of vulcazine chasing what they thought were lightly-armed guerrilla bands, Monty not only hoarded his own fuel reserves, but managed to expand them through capture of German supplies using the markedly primitive technique of train robbery... ... As the Germans mounted four poorly-planned invasion attempts against the British Isles, United Empire forces (and surviving French units attached to the U.E. command) in India, North Africa, and continental Europe adopted the strategy of essentially trying to annoy the Germans to death. Rather than engage them in open battles, they resorted to hitting and retreating, attacking supply lines and supply depots, and killing German soldiers every time they ventured outside heavily-fortified posts. Indeed, the most conservative estimate (from the German high command) was that fully 18 percent of all casualties suffered by the German army were caused by "irregular" activities. These tactics caused the German leaders such frustration that Chancellor von Bruning wrote in his private diary in frustration: "When the enemy will not meet you in actual battle, one must wonder, war, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing?" ---- All mistakes and confusing sentences are mine, in spite of editing assistance from Noel Maurer. (WRS) Forward to #158 (November 1974): Nightrain. Return to For All Nails. Category: Global War